Calgary,
17
January
2020
|
11:39
America/Denver

The City of Calgary’s Financial Task Force

A financial task force consisting of Calgarians with expertise in policy formulation, business strategy, property valuations and finance is working with City Administration to support Calgary’s economic recovery and financial resiliency.

Last year, Council identified the need for a Financial Task Force to identify and assess innovative solutions for short-term economic mitigation, long-term economic recovery solutions, and revenue options to contribute to the city’s financial resiliency.

Members of the Financial Task Force have been meeting regularly since 2019 September to solidify their understanding of the complex financial issues facing The City of Calgary and are working to identify potential solutions and opportunities that have the potential to provide the most impact. Some of the principal issues the Financial Task Force is focused on include:

  • Decreasing the volatility of annual property taxes to individual taxpayers
  • Improving the consistency and predictability of annual revenues for The City
  • Considering alternatives to enhance sustainable revenue options that are tied to appropriate levels of service and related costs incurred by The City; and
  • Creating a framework for financial decision making based on “evidence-based decision-making principles” to help align decision making with the long-term vision for the City.

Many of the options that have been discussed to date fall within two categories:

  • Near-term items that are possible within current legislated authorities; and
  • Longer-term solutions that will require cooperation and collaboration with other orders of government, other municipalities and adjacent counties.

The task force is led by The City’s Chief Financial Officer, Carla Male, CPA-CA as Chair. “I am grateful for the high caliber of skilled professionals who have volunteered their time and expertise to help identify potential solutions to support the economic recovery and resiliency of the city,” said Male. “In particular, I would like to recognize the efforts of our external members of the financial task force:

  • Heidi Conrad, CPA-CA
  • JT Dhoot, AACI, CBV
  • Dave Dunlop, CPA-CA, MBA, CFA
  • Brian Hahn, BSME
  • Sarah Lerner, CFA, MBA
  • Annie MacInnis, MSc (Economics)
  • Dave Mewha
  • Lindsay Tedds, PhD (Economics)
  • Alan Tennant, EMBA, FRI, CAE
  • Rene Wells, PhD, (Finance)
  • Nizar Walji, CFA
  • Mike Yuzwa, CPA-CA, CBV

External members of the Financial Task Force are supported by internal experts from the following departments and business units:

  • Chief Financial Officers Department
  • Finance (Tax, Corporate Budget Office including Corporate Economics)
  • Assessment
  • Intergovernmental and Corporate Strategy
  • Law

The Financial Task Force will continue to meet throughout the year and are expected to report back to Council with their findings and proposed recommendations later in 2020.

To learn more about the financial task force, visit calgary.ca/financial task force

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